Automatic door operating mechanism



NOV. 30, 1954 J w AUTOMATIC DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 28, 1950 INVENTOR. G. Work James Nov. 30, 1954 J. G. WARK AUTOMATIC DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM I5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 28. 1950 INVENTOR.

James G. l I/ork y zy ywflg fl fwd Nov. 30, 1954 Filed Aug. 28. 1950 J. G. WARK 2,695,781

AUTOMATIC DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 4/ l a I Push Bufzon 759mm Steppinc z m,

INVENTOR. James G. VI/Qrk After-megs.

United States Patent AUTOMATIC DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM James Gordon Wark, Detroit, Mich.

Application August 28, 1950, Serial No. 181,895

11 Claims. (Cl. 268--59) This invention relates to mechanism for opening and closing doors and it has to do particularly with a mechanism useful for opening and closing garage doors which have an upward and downward movement.

The objects of the invention include the provision of a mechanism for efl'lciently operating the door and which embodies safety features so that if the door in lowering meets an obstruction, the movement is stopped and the mechanism ceases operating. Thus, the door will not crush an object or hurt a person. When the door is rising toward open position, it will cease this movement if, for example, a child happens to hang onto the door and thus the child is not elevated and subjected to possible injury.

Novel and simple means are provided for controlling the mechanism and to bring the mechanism to a stop when the door is fully opened and closed. Moreover, a mechanism is provided whereby the door may be operated by remote control. In this connection, the mechanism may be set into operation through the means of a radio receiving set sensitive to a wave length, broadcast by a broadcasting device which may be in the vehicle of the person desiring to operate the door and another of which may be located within the residence or in other locations.

The invention also aims to provide an apparatus comprised of relatively simple elements which are easily obtainable, which are assembled into an efficient and simple design, to the end that the entire apparatus may be obtained by the public at a reasonable cost.

An apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention is disclosed in the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a general view illustrating the door in closed position, showing the track and dolly, and showing the door in open dotted line position.

Fig. 2 is a view of the traveling dolly showing the sprocket arrangement.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 33 of Fig. 2 showing features of construction.

Fig. 4 is a view of one of the friction members in the dolly.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken substantially on line 5-5 of Fig. 1 showing the dolly on its track.

Fig. 6 is a detailed view largely in side elevation showing the driving motor, one end of the track construction and some of the controls.

Fig. 7 is a detailed view illustrating a switch controlling element.

Fig. 8 is a view largely in plan looking at the top of the mechanism shown in Fig. 6 and showing some parts in section.

Fig. 9 is a plan view with some parts cut away and some parts in section illustrating one end of the track and showing some of the controlling mechanism.

Fig. 10 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 10-10 of Fig. 9 showing a sprocket mounting.

Fig. 11 is an enlarged detailed view taken on line 11-11 of Fig. 1 showing some control mechanism.

Fig. 12 is a diagrammatical view of the electrical control system.

Inasmuch as the invention is thought to be especially applicable for garage doors the description herein will refer to the mechanism as such. A part of a wall of a garage is illustrated at 1 in Fig. 1, while the floor or ground surface is shown at 2 and a door is illustrated 8 generally at 3. This door is shown as being one com- 0 the lever arm 61.

2,695,781 Patented Nov. 30, 1954 prised of several sections hinged together as at 4. The door, and more especially, the hinge portions thereof are guided for movement in a track. The track has a vertical portion 6, there being a rail at each side of the door; it has a curved portion 8 and a horizontal portion 9. Such a door having a track of this kind is well known and further detailed description is believed to be unnecessary. Suffice it to say that the door is movable by sliding action to and from the full and dotted line positions shown in Fig. 1.

Positioned above the portion 9 of the track is a track of the present mechanism. This track, as shown in Fig. 5, has a rail 12 and a rail 13 somewhat of channel construction and formed with curved flanges 14. One end of this track is anchored, for example, to the Wall of the garage as shown at 15 and the other end is supported by suitable bracket means 16.

A dolly is arranged to be carried by and be movable along the track and this dolly is generally illustrated at 20. As shown in Fig. 3, the dolly has a side frame member 21 and another side frame member 22 held together by bolts with spacers as generally illustrated at 23. Passing through the frame member are two axles 24 and 25 which carry rollers 26 which engage and seat in the track rails as shown in Fig. 5

Three sprockets are positioned on the dolly, one being illustrated at 28, another at 29 and a central sprocket at 30, and these are offset relative to each other so that a driving chain illustrated at 31 may be passed through the dolly after the manner illustrated in Fig. 2. The chain runs under the sprockets 28 and 29 and over the sprocket 30. The sprockets 28 and 29 are arranged to idle freely on their axes, while the sprocket 30 is frictionally controlled. As illustrated in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, there is a plate 32 carried by the dolly having friction material 33 mounted thereon. Another plate 34 has friction material 35 mounted thereon. The sprocket 30 has a hub 36 positioned between the friction facings 33 and 35 and the hub is journalled on an axis member which may be in the form of a bolt 37 with a head 38 on one end and an adjusting wing nut 39 on its opposite end. A coil spring 40 is positioned between the wing nut and the plate 34 and it will readily be seen that the plates 32 and 34 may thus be squeezed against the hub of the sprocket 30 a determined amount by tightening the spring 40 through the means of the wing nut. For this purpose the plates 32 and 34 are slidably mounted on the axis members of the sprockets 28 and 29.

There is a link 42 pivotally mounted to the upper end of the door as at 43 and the opposite end of this link is connected to the dolly. For this purpose a securing pin 44 passes through the dolly frame members 21 and 22 and it has a handle portion 45 engageable in a spring clip 46. The pin passes through the link 42 as shown in Fig. 5. If for any reason it is desirable or necessary to disconnect the mechanism from the door, the handle 45 may be grasped and turned to free it from the spring clip 46 and then the pin may be withdrawn axially.

The chain 31 drives the dolly and the chain operates over a sprocket 50 and a sprocket 51. One run of the chain is threaded through the dolly as shown in Fig. 2. The axis member 52 of the sprocket 51 is engaged in brackets 53 which are slidable on the track members and thus the chain may be tightened or loosened by manipulating the nuts on the bolts 54. The bolts 54 are anchored to the end mounting member 55.

There is a reversible electric motor 58 which drives the sprocket 50 through the means of a reduction gearing contained in box 59 mounted on the motor frame. The hub of sprocket 50, as illustrated at 60, projects therefrom and a lever arm 61 is journalled thereon and engaged between friction facings 62 and 63. The facings may be tightened against the lever arm through the means of a nut 64 mounted on a stud 65, there being an interposed coil spring 66 between the nut and the facing 63. Thus, rotation of the sprocket 50 ends to frictionally cause rotation or rocking movement of This is a safety control feature, the function of which will presently appear.

it will be appreciated from the construction thus described that if the driving motor operates in one direction, the chain is moved over its sprockets and the dolly is caused to shift along the rails of its track. The force with which the dolly is caused to move on its track is determined by the tightness of the frictional engagement of the facings 33 and 35 with the hub of the sprocket 3t Now, if the door is moving downwardly, and it strikes an obstruction, which may be a part of an automobile or a person such as a child, the resistance offered thereby causes the I friction clutch arrangement with the sprocket 31) to slip. The motor continues operating; the chain continues its movement; but the dolly and the door cease movement because of the slippage. In other words, the sprocket 30 turns on its axis and the dolly does not move. Now, the friction clutch arrangement can be adjusted so that a very light resistance causes this slippage. Therefore, the door will not damage, even the sheet metal parts of the vehicle, if it engages the same, and will do no harm to any part of a person with which the door may come in contact.

Similarly, if the motor is operated in the opposite direction to lift the door, the dolly travels in the opposite direction. on its track. If, for example, a child should hang onto the door to be lifted thereby the friction clutch at the sprocket 30- slips and thus there is no danger from this standpoint.

The electrical control system is shown in Fig. 12 diagrammatically. At there is demonstrated a radio broadcasting unit with a push button 71 for sending out a suitable radio wave. The main electrical power line is indicated by lines 72 and 69, line 72 running directly to the driving motor and also being connected through line 72a toa switch 73 which is controlled by a radio receiving set 75. Running from the switch '73 is a line 76 which connects to what is termed a stepping relay having a coil 78 and from the coil line 79' runs back to the main power line 69. The line 69 extends to the stepping relay switch 80 arranged to make contact with a contact 81 and a contact 82 and these contacts are connected, as shown,

to contacts 84 and 85 of a double throw switch having a switch member 87 and a switch member 88. These switch members are connected to the motor by lines 90 and 91. A manually operable switch 74 is placed in the circuit in parallel with the switch 73. This may be a push button switch and may be conveniently located so that a person may momentarily close the switch 74 to effect operation of the mechanism.

The mechanical portion of the stepping relay is diagrammaticall; illustrated as including a pivoted armature 92 operating on a ratchet wheel 93 which turns a disc 94 with projections 95 thereon. When a projection lies under a switch arm 30 it shifts the same into engagement with the contact 81 and when the disc has been moved 45 the arm 81) moves into engagement with the contact 82. "5.

Each time the solenoid 78 is energized the ratchet wheel is moved one notch by the armature 92 and the switch arm 80 alternately moves into engagement with contacts 81 and 82.

The mechanical controlling mechanism or limit control device operate the double switch with its arms 37 and 88. This switch may be mounted on the holder for the radio receiver 75 and generally illustrated at 89 and it has an operating arm 1th) connected to an actuating rod 101. This connection is preferably through the means of a bracket 102 mounted on the arm with interposed coil springs 194 and 105. The rod 101 passes through the bracket and springs and it has a washer 106 fixed thereon. Thus, if the rod 101 is pushed downwardly it pushes the bracket 1112 and the arm 100 downwardly by means of a washer 106 depressing against the spring 105. The upward movement is similar in that the arm 100 is moved upwardly because the washer 106 acts against spring 104. Due to the-spring arrangement, some relative movement is permitted between the switch 100 and rod 101.

The dolly has an inclined surface 110 at its forward end and an inclined surface 111 at its rearward end and when the dolly is in its forward position, as shown by the full lines in Fig. l, the inclined surface rides under an arm 112 fastened to a rocker shaft 113 to rock the shaft. Another rocker shaft 114 is connected to the rocker shaft 113 through gears 115 and 116 and thus the direction of rotation of the two shafts is reversed. Rocker shaft 114 (Fig. 8) has an arm 117 extending laterally therefrom and the upper end of rod 1411 is connected thereto as at 118.

4 The rocker shaft 114 has an arm 120 projecting therefrom and is in position to be engaged by the inclined surface 111 when the dolly is in its rearward position.

Accordingly, when the dolly reaches its forwardmost position, the arm 112 is engaged, the rocker shaft 113 and gear 115 are rocked clockwise as Fig. 5 is viewed; this rocks the shaft 114 and gear 116 counterclockwise and accordingly, the arm 117 moves downwardly, pushes the rod 101 downwardly and throws the switch arm 100 to a downward position. This reverses the position of the switch arms 87 and 88 in Fig. 12. Also when the dolly reaches its rearmost position, the inclined surface 111 engages and lifts the arm 117 upwardly thus pulling the switch arm back to the position shown in Fig. 6.

The arrangement of the frictionally engaged lever arm 61 is for the purpose of discontinuing operation of the driving motor in the event the door meets an obstruction as it is moving toward closed position. There is an air cylinder 125, one end of which is pivotally mounted on the bracket 126 and it has a piston 128 with a piston rod 129 (Fig. 6) pivotally connected to the lever arm as at 130. The cylinder has a bleed adjustment valve 131 on. one end and one or more vents in. its side wall as at 132.

The rod 129 is slidably connected to a rod 133 through the means of a bracket 134, the rod 133 having adjusting nuts 135 thereon and the rod 133 is connected to an arm 135 of rocker arm 137. The rocker arm 137 has a projection 138 which engages the arm 117.

In the operation of this safety construction let. it be assumed that the dolly is connected to the lower run of the chain 31 and that the motor is operating so that the sprocket 50 is turning clockwise as Fig. 6 is viewed. The dolly is, therefore, moving toward the full line position of Fig. l and the door is moving downwardly. The lever arm 61,. being frictionally engaged between the faeings 62 and 63, tends to rock clockwise if Fig. 6 is iewed. Its rocking motion is retracted or checked to an extent determined by the bleed orifice 131. The rocking action is checked sufiiciently so that normally the door moves to closed position. But suppose the door meets an obstruction and there is no person around to take care of the situation, or suppose the only person around is one who is caught under the door, then it is only a matter of time until the mechanism discontinues operation. When the door is thus jammed the sprocket 30 turns in its frictional mounting, the motor and sprocket 50 continue operating and eventually the piston 12%, as it ispulled by the arm 61, moves past the port 132. Air can now quickly enter the cylinder and the arm 61 shifts clockwise rapidly and the bracket 134 abuts the nut 135. This pulls the rod 133, rocks the shaft 137, which, through its arm 138, shifts the arm 117, actuates the switch 89 and shuts off the motor.

The general operation can be visualized by reference to Fig. 12. Let it be assumed that the electrical connections and switches are in the position as shown in Fig. 12. The circuit to the motor is broken because, while there is a contact at 81, the circuit is broken at 84. To operate the door, a person may broadcast a wave impulse by pushing the button 71 and this, due to the radio receiver 35, closes switch 73- momentarily. This energizes the solenoid 78 and actuates the stepping relay. Specifically, the armature 92 is pulled downwardly rockingthe ratchet wheel 93 and turning the disc 94 so that the arm 80 makes engagement with the contact 82. The circuit is now completed through the contact 85 and switch arm- 88 so that the motor starts operating. Assume that the motor starts operating in a direction for closing the door. If the door meets no obstruction, it will be closed and the dolly will move under and raise the arm 112 (Fig. 5 and this through the gears 15 and 16 will rock shaft 14 and its arm 117 will push the rod 101 downwardly as Fig. 6* is viewed. This action will open the contact at 85 so that the motor stops operating. This also closes the circuit at 84 but the circuit remains open because there is no contact at 81. Now the next time the impulse is received the switch 73 is again closed momentarily thus energizing the relay solenoid and operating the stepping relay as above described so that the switch arm 80 moves back to the position shown in Fig. 12 establishing a contact at 81. Since there is a contact completed through 84 and 87 the motor operates in the opposite direction and the door is elevated. Finally, when the dolly runs under the arm 120 and rocks the shaft 114, therod 1 01 is pulledupwardly and the double switch is operated to break the contact at 84 thus causing the motor to stop and make the contact at 85 thus resetting the system for a subse quent operation.

As before mentioned, if the door meets obstruction as it is going down, the time control effected by the air cylinder 125, and its piston 128 eventually causes; the motor circuit to be broken. The timing can be nicely regulated not only by the adjustment of the bleed port valve 131 but also by the adjustment of the friction exerted by the clutch facings 62 and 63. If the door is moving upwardly, and meets an obstruction or 'if some person or child hangs on the door, it merely fails to go up because of slippage of the sprocket 30 in its fr1ct1on mounting. The mechanical push button switch 74 may be conveniently located so that the door may be operated as desired independently of the remote control. The switch 74 need be only momentarily closed to effect operation.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for operating a door which moves with a sliding action to and from closed and open positions comprising, a track, a dolly movable on the track, means connecting the dolly and the door, a chain having a portion extending along the track, a driving motor for moving the chain, a sprocket in the dolly with which the chain is engaged, and friction means normally holding the spocket against rotation in the dolly so that the dolly is moved along the track with movement of the chain, said friction means adapted to slip when the door meets undue resistance.

2. An apparatus for operating a door which moves with a sliding action to and from closed and open positions comprising, a track, a dolly movable on the track, means connecting the dolly and the door, a chain having a run extending along the track and operating over sprockets adjacent the ends of the track, a motor for driving one sprocket, a sprocket journalled in the dolly with which the chain is engaged and friction means normally holding the sprocket in the dolly against rotation whereby movement of the chain causes movement of the dolly on the track for opening and closing the door, said friction means adapted to slip when the door meets undue resistance.

3. An apparatus for operating a door which moves with a sliding action to and from closed and open positions comprising, a track, a dolly movable on the track, means connecting the dolly and the door, a chain having a run extending along the track and operating over sprockets adjacent the ends of the track, a motor for driving one sprocket, a sprocket jounalled in the dolly with which the chain is engaged, friction means normally holding the sprocket in the dolly against rotation whereby movement of the chain causes movement of the dolly on the track for opening and closing the door, said friction means adapted to slip when the door meets undue resistance, and means for adjusting said friction means.

4. An apparatus for operating a door which moves with a sliding action to and from closed and open positions comprising, a track, a dolly on the track, means adapted to connect the dolly and the door, a sprocket adjacent each end of the track, a chain running over the sprockets, a sprocket in the dolly, means journalling the sprocket in the dolly, friction means engaging the sprocket in the dolly including friction material and spring means for compacting the friction material to maintain the friction engagement, the frictional engagement normally holding the sprocket in the dolly against rotation so that movement of the chain causes movement of the dolly and movement of the door, the frictional engagement adapted to slip when the door meets undue resistance.

5. An apparatus for operating a door which moves with a sliding action to and from closed and open positions comprising, a track, a dolly on the track, means adapted to connect the dolly and the door, a sprocket adjacent each end of the track, a chain running over the sprockets, a sprocket in the dolly, means journalling the sprocket in the dolly, friction means engaging the sprocket in the dolly including friction material and spring means for compacting the friction material to maintain the frictional engagement, the frictional engagement normally holding the sprocket in the dolly against rotation so that movement of the chain causes movement of the dolly and movement of the door, the frictional engagement adapted to slip when the door meets undue 6 resistance, and two other idling sprockets in the dolly over which the chain passes for holding the chain in snug engagement with the first named sprocket in the dolly.

6. An apparatus for operating a door which moves with a sliding action to and from closed and open positions comprising, a track, a dolly mounted on the track, means adapted to connect the dolly to the door, a chain operating over sprockets and extending along the track, a reversible electric motor for driving the chain, means connecting the chain and the dolly, a double pole switch for the motor, a rocker shaft having an arm adjacent one end of the track engageable with the dolly, another rocker arm having an arm adjacent the opposite end of the track engageable with the dolly, gears connecting the two rocker shafts, means connecting one rocker shaft to the switch, whereby, when the dolly approaches one end of the track the first rocker shaft is rocked and its motion is communicated through the gearing to said other rocker shaft to actuate the switch to open the motor circuit and whereby when the dolly approaches the opposite end of the track the second rocker shaft is rocked to actuate the switch in the opposite direction.

7. An apparatus for operating a door which moves with sliding action to and from closed and open positions comprising, a track, a dolly on the track, means adapted to connect the dolly to the door, a driving motor, frictional means connecting the motor and the dolly for normally causing movement of the dolly along the track, switch means for energizing the motor, said frictional means being arranged to slip when the door meets undue resistance, control means for actuating the switch to break the circuit for the motor, actuating means for the control means frictionally connected with the motor and normally tending to actuate said control means, pneumatic means for retarding the actuating means against movement during normal operation of the door, and having movement for a delayed shift of the actuating means after the door has met undue resistance for the actuation of the control means switch to break the circuit to the motor.

8. An apparatus for operating a door which moves with sliding action to and from closed and open positions c0mprising, a track, a dolly on the track, means adapted to connect the dolly to the door, a driving motor, frictional means connecting the motor and the dolly for normally causing movement of the dolly along the track, switch means for energizing the motor, said frictional means being arranged to slip when the door meets undue resistance, control means for actuating the switch to break the circuit for the motor, actuating means for the control means frictionally connected with the motor and normally tending to actuate said control means, an air cylinder with a bleed valve and a piston associated with the actuating means for retarding movement of the actuating means during operation of the motor, said bleed valve permitting relative movement of the cylinder and piston for movement of the said actuating means when the door has met undue resistance, whereby in time, the actuating means moves and acts upon the control means to open the switch to break the circuit for the electric motor.

9. A timing mechanism for the purposes substantially described comprising, an electrical driving motor, means driven thereby, a connection between the motor and said driven means adapted to slip when the driven means meets an obstruction, an element driven by the motor, an arm member frictionally engaged with said element, a cylinder member, a piston member in the cylinder, one member being connected to the arm and the other member being fixedly mounted, said cylinder having a bleed port whereby to retard movement of the piston and said arm as the motor operates, the bleeding action permitting said arm to shift after the driven member has stopped and means actuated by the shift of said arm to break the circuit for the electric motor.

10. In a door operating mechanism, a track, a driving chain having a run extending along the track, a dolly having rollers for operation along the track, a sprocket journalled in the dolly having teeth in engagement with the chain, friction means engaging the sprocket and holding it against rotation for normal movement of the dolly along the track in opening and closing the door, said friction means adapted to slip when the door meets an undue resistance, and means adjustable to vary the tightness of the frictional engagement.

11. In a door operating mechanism, a track, a driving chain having a run extending along the track, a dolly having rollers for operation along the track, a sprocket journalled in the dolly having teeth in engagement with the .chain, friction means engaging the sprocket and holding it against rotation for normal movement of the dolly along the track in opening and closing the door, said friction means adapted to slip when the door meets an undue resistance, means adjustable to vary the tightness of the frictional engagement, and another sprocket in the dolly which is freely journalled and has teeth in engagement with the opposite side of the chain and positioned to hold the chain in engagement with the teeth of the first mentioned sprocket.

Name Date Lovejoy Mar, 26, 1918 Number Number Name Date Brown Sept. 15, Edwards et a1. Mar. 6, Blodgett June 12, Blodgett Nov. 20, Pace s Aug, 11, Frost et a1. June 1, Foster Mar. 26, Greegor et a1. Nov. 12, German Dec. 17, Rogers .22, -2 Feb. 2, O alek -2 Feb. 22, onter May 28, Cook July 22, Moore Mar. 28, Riverman s Feb. 20, 

